Market analysts maintain that a as result of firm oil prices in international markets and other industry trends and strong governmental commitments to aid, investment in one of several new Saudi economic cities offers investor potentially lucrative opportunities.
With a reported budget surplus of $57 billion last year along with significant private investment, Saudi authorities have revealed plans for three mega projects over the past six months, according to Gulf News.
These mega-projects include the $27 billion King Abdullah Economic City located north of Red Sea port of Jeddah, to be developed by Dubai’s Emaar Properties. The second project is the 1.6 million square meter King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh, and the third, the Prince Abdulaziz Bin Mosad Economic City located in Hail.
King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh is intended to serve as the Saudi financial district, housing all state entities dealing with financial matters, as well an academy dedicated to degrees in financial services. Construction on the project is set to begin sometime in 2007.
Construction for the $8 billion Prince Abdulaziz Bin Mosad Economic City, located in the city of Hail, 720 kilometers northwest of Riyadh, is expected to span over the course of a decade.
These projects involve massive investment, provided in part by local and regional strategic investors, some of whom has set up new firms, such as the Rakisah Holding Company, for this purpose. With massive development underway and planned for the coming years to meet massive infrastructure and other needs for such projects, the time may be ripe, analysts believe, to partake in such mega-opportunities within the region’s largest economy.
